Hard time for Lady Lions Softball Team

After last year’s strong season where the team reached the semifinals, and had the Academic Athletic Association (AAA) player of the year, Isabel S., this year’s Galileo girls softball team has much lower expectations as the team is a younger and more inexperienced group. Knowing this season would be much rougher than last year, the team is less focused on wins and more focused on building good chemistry & developing as individual players.

The softball team knew they would be facing many challenges this season, most importantly the loss of their star player from last year. As head coach Mr. Cossey said, “Pitching is everything, without a pitcher the weaknesses of the team is more vulnerable, having a good pitcher helps control the game to getting people out and switching the side of the ball you are on.”

Not only did the team need to replace their pitching though, but also a number of other positions needed to be filled. Coach Cossey says, “I had seniors that were really good defensively and had been familiar with defense, this year we have lots of young girls that have never played a sport before,”

In addition to having to replace numerous players this season, there has also been an issue with players being dedicated to the team. Coach Cossey says,“One big problem this year is girls not showing up to practice which is very important because practice makes perfect.”

The girls recognize this year’s team is very different than last year’s, saying that this year’s team lacks many things; including communication and the team chemistry. One player, who wanted to remain anonymous, stated, “ We lack motivation, people miss practice a lot, and everyone is in their own group of friends not trying to work as a team,”

Despite the bleak prospects for this season, Coach Cossey is optimistic about the future. “We are trying to build a program, so if the incoming players stick together as a group through the years they will be a great team. I had 8 freshmen last year and another 8 this year, if they grow up together by the time they’re seniors, they can be good.” Out of the freshmen and sophomores, Coach Cossey mentioned freshman Jenny Guang, someone who had never played before improves daily, and sophomore Kamiya Bynum, who has improved a lot as well, as 2 girls to keep an eye on. He also says that sophomore Jackie Avalos can pitch and is learning and if she can continue to improve she will also make a big impact for the team.

While Coach Cossey has an eye on the future, he still is focused on making this season successful in its own right. The team’s goals are to improve their communication and just try and have a good record throughout the season. Coach Cossey also wants to develop a pitcher and have them show up to practice. They also want to make sure that they all enjoy their season, especially for the seniors as it’s their last year.